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“Worship the One Supreme, Oh Mind!
That which pervades the universe and the
soul– ‘Tis the Eternal Light of Reality.”
–Natchintanai. 175.
Our Beloved and Revered Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
Attained Maha Samadhi on November 12th, 2001
Click to read for Details.
Click here to read
Gurudeva’s statement on September 11th
Bodhinatha’s discourses are being well received around the world. A reminder to those who haven’t heard yet: Bodhinatha has his own home page now at:
/satgurus/bodhinatha/ where you can find out about his life and training with Gurudeva.
We are entering our spring Sadhu Paksha… the monks are on retreat for two phases.
Cybertalk: With karma management it is important to apply our philosophical
understanding to our life in order for it to really benefit us. A new
concept is: “divinely influence karma.” Through the worship of Lord Ganesha,
of course! Ganesha helps us to discover our personal dharma, or svadharma,
and as we sit with him on the muladhara chakra and live in the states of
consciousness above it, we naturally stop adharmic practices and habits.
Lord Ganesha is the Lord of Obstacles. When our life seems to be filled with
problems, the worship of Lord Ganesha can help. Bring Ganesha and his band
of devas into our problems in order to receive their assistance.
Satsang, or religious fellowship, is important for the management of karma
and stability in our life. As Gurudeva put it so aptly, “The individual
helps the group, and the group helps the individual.”
Cybertalk Ends”
For more information about listening to Gurudeva’s talks online and to hear them in other formats, click here.
And click here for an Index to All Past CyberTalks.
Study Gurudeva’s teachings
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Bodhinatha will be happy to hold “Prasnottara Satsang” — “Questions and Answers” over the telephone with any Hindu religious societies, Hindu youth groups, Radio talk show hosts etc. All you need is a phone with a speaker and an enthusiastic audience. Arrangements may be made in advance by sending email to Sadhaka Mahadevan
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Yesterday the lunch for the monks and devotees was sponsored by one of the devotees and the wonderful Thai vegetarian food delighted everyone. Watch out for those hidden chilies!
Whenever the Thai families come to the Aadheenam they always go first to the temple and make a huge offering of fruits to be feed to the monks. This is their ancient Buddhist tradition.
In the temple we keep a small shrine to Gurudeva, where he used to sit and deliver his talks in the eastern corner of the temple. There a pair of sandals is placed and worshiped by all the monks daily.
Recent torrential rains have abated and the river is calm and rocks previous submerged appear again, clean and bright. Here is one area along the river, just below the new Iraivan Temple site. One day pilgrims will come here first and then take the steps up the hill to the temple.
Our “Chola Garden” water fall… a miniature garden setting.
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Iraivan Temple Progress Update |
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Saiva Siddhanta Church Singapore Mission
Our members in Singapore conducted a youth retreat recently… Bodhinatha and all the monks send a big congratulations for the wonderful work:
Here is thhe report from Singapore:
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NANDINATHA SANGAM YOUTH RETREAT
CHANGI HILL BUNGALOW
23 MAR 02
This time round the YOUTH RETREAT was conducted at Changi Hill Bungalow on 23 March 2002. We had a total of 14 participants and 5 mission members.
The retreat started at about 1630 hrs with Shanti Mantra � Aum Sahana Vaavatu, led by Sivakumar Saravans, followed by the programme proper.
The 1st topic for the day was,
“HOW TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN LIFE, STUDIES and WORK”,
this topic was presented by Sivakumar Saravan.
Topic covered was Ganesha, Muruga and Siva
- His explanation and elaboration on Worship and Meditation on Lord Ganesha with various mantra
- Breathing Techniques
- Managing of Karma
- was very interesting and easy to understand. His presentation includes demonstration, which involved the participants, and they participated actively. He also covered the area on
- Affirmation, is a will power with positive affirmation
- His explanation on
- Finish what you start (Accepting & Forgiving)
- Includes some group discussion too, where the participants have to come with their own affirmation in that given time.
We had a short break, where all participants helped themselves with a cup of coffee or tea with biscuits of different flavours. During the break, it was noticed that all participants were very reserved and kept to their own group of friends and cousins.
As such, the retreat continued with an icebreaker game led by Thamilmani Visakan. Each participant was given 3 mins to gather some information about the rest of the group on a piece of paper and this game makes way for all of them to interact with each other, including the mission members. With the start of the game, the whole place became very noisy and the participants looked very busy checking out information. Small gifts were given to three of them who finished their paper.
After the game Sivakumar Saravan, continued with his presentation on
- Charging your aura, explaining about the colour meditation
- Dana � Giving
Following that, we had another game ~ the Treasure Hunt which was led by myself. The participants were divided into 3 different groups, names as GANESHA, MODHAKA & SHAKTI. They are to blow the balloons until it burst and read the slip, which was inside. Next, they are to get the items that were stated in the slip. It was very interesting to watch them being so busy with their activity. The GANESHA team walked away with little gifts for finishing the game first. They burst off all the balloons and collected all the required items in the shortest time.
Next came: Simple guidelines for healthy living — Yoga, which was covered and
demonstrated by Mr Umamaheswaran. After the demonstration, all the participants cleared their doubts by asking all the questions they wanted. Both Mr Umamaheswaran and Sivakumar Saravan answered their questions.
The 2nd topic for the day was
” TIME MANAGEMENT”
Thamilmani Visakan covered this topic. She not only gave a talk on this topic but also gave some real life experiences in order for the topic to be more effective. They were updated by the term “Time Stealers” and how to handle the situation was motivating. Some participants asked questions and shared their experiences too.
As it was close to dinner, we had a delicious dinner, which was prepared by Mrs Umamaheswaran, before winding up the event which was a presentation by the participants.
Three problems were identified and each team was tasked to solve one problem each within 20 mins.
They were to use the topic covered for that day as problem solving tools and come out with solutions. To our surprise, all the 3 teams came up with a very good problem solving methods merging our religion, healthy living and time management. It really gave the presenters — Sivakumar Saravan, Thamilmani Visakan and Mr Umamaheswaran a great satisfaction that the participants learned something and most importantly they knew how to apply it in their lives.
All the participants were given a little souvenir and some handouts on the topic discussed. The Nandinatha Sangam Youth Retreat ended at about 2200 hrs with Shanti Mantra.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the following souls who were beside me making this youth retreat a successful one though the location was only confirmed on the 11th hour.
Sivakumar Saravan – Preparing the 1st topic for the programme
Lavanya Saravan – Taking charge of the registration
Thamilmani Visakan – Preparing the 2nd topic for the programme and for sponsoring the small gifts and the souvenirs.
Mr Umamaheswaran – To give an interesting update about Yoga and for demonstration on Yoga Postures.
Mrs Umamaheswaran – For the wonderful dinner
Om Sivaya
Sudha
Organiser, Nandinatha Sangam Youth Retreat
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transcription begins
Date: November_06_1998
Title: Chemical Chaos, LSD, Youth
Category:
Duration: 10 min., 49 seconds
Date Given: November 06, 1998
Today at Kauai Aadheenam, it’s November 6th. It’s quite a day.
We have our Acharya Palaniswami and Yogi Yuganatha departing for a convention on aids in the Midwest, sponsored by the Ford Foundation. They are inviting the religious editors of all the faiths to gather to talk about this very important subject.
Also, Rajkumar and Ananda are getting married today at the Siva Vishnu Temple in Livermore, California. Congratulations to you both.
Today, I am giving an introductory talk about ‘Chemical Chaos’ and reading parts of it for our friend, Marilyn Wong. Marilyn, we saw you on television yesterday at the County Council meeting working out your grant for fifty thousand dollars. Congratulations! You looked great. Marilyn is in charge of the ‘Coalition for a Drug Free Kauai’.
Now, why on this beautiful Garden Island do we have to think about drugs? Well, we do. It is all over the world. It is a chemical chaos. Before they were invented, life was very nice in America. Then in 1964, everything changed. The Hindu Swamis all got together and decided to stand up against LSD and to say that it was not a good substitute for meditation.
Our elder Swami in the United States, Swami Satchitananda, met with Albert and Larry and they said to him, “We will make you a great Sivajnani. You will be a great prophet; just take some of this LSD.”
He said, “I never really wanted to be a great prophet. I really wanted to be a medical doctor or a surgeon. Give me a pill for that!”. They necessarily went away a little bit disappointed because he was not on their side and neither was I.
I would like to paraphrase and read just a little bit about an inspired talk that I gave and circulated into the hands of all those who were leaders in the drug movement at that time. At that time, drugs were legal. It begins in this way:
We have a new race of people, I call them LSD people. They are a new race of people that have manifested in bodies already in existence. Their feelings are different. They have different relationships with their family and a great gap has occurred between them and their parents. They are just like a another race from another country that have moved in among us, started to live with us, and we are having to adjust to them. We cannot say the psychedelic experience is good or the psychedelic experience is bad. In institutions in Menlo Park, it is being tested by scientists. But, we can say that it is an experience that has occurred to thousands and thousands of people.
I do not encourage you or anyone else to take mind-altering drugs. I encourage everyone to continue with the slow process of yoga. I want to awaken you to the fact that there is a new race of people among us who have a entirely different approach to life.
LSD puts a strain on the nerve structure. The individual then goes into shock and has a difficult time adjusting to normal routine. I am asking that the LSD movement be stopped. All the Hindu Swamis are asking that the LSD movement be stopped. I am asking the leaders of it to stop. For the sake of the protection of the youth against a drastically abrupt awakening that is going to open them eventually to the lower realms of the mind which will be beyond their ability to handle, and later on, beyond the ability of the law to handle.
You have heard of obsessions, you have heard of possessions. When a young person is opened up, he can be obsessed, he can be possessed and impelled to do things he had no intention of doing simply because his nerve system is sensitive and open to the various lower forces of hate, greed, mistrust, fear and malice. So, we are all asking and putting in a plea to stop the movement so that the youth are protected and can go forward in their evolution in life in a normal way. I am pleading to the intelligence, to the innate intelligence of the older souls and the educated people that are involved with the movement, to help stop the movement. (Because) When a movement gets going, built around a couple of men, who have some intelligence, then it becomes a society that has to have its own laws and its own forms of discipline. As this society grows and gains power, it becomes too large to handle. Eventually it gets out of control. Then we have, and will have ‘Chemical Chaos’.
I do not want to see a nationwide movement built around a little bit of acid. I do not want to see that because of the young people who will be involved. When the mind is open to the higher forces of consciousness it is simultaneously opened to the lower forces because the whole mind has been opened up in the same process. There are great mood swings – elation, anger, happiness, depression. So then, where is the protection? A guru can protect his devotees in the opening-up process by closing off the lower as the higher opens.
It is the young people that are going to suffer immediately. Right now the movement is still young. So I am asking, we are all asking that the LSD movement be stopped. We are asking the leaders of it to stop it for the sake of the protection of the young people most especially. We don’t need any more ‘turn on’.
So I say enough has gone far enough and before anything drastic happens it should be halted. The movement is going through the young minds of the nineteen-year olds, the twenty-year olds, young impressionable minds. No education, no foundation that goes along with it. There will be a chemical chaos, we predict this, and young people come out of it beyond repair. It is when the LSD hits the streets and made available to one and all, we will see, in the future, hundreds of thousands of people groveling on the streets, if this is allowed to continue.
That was a talk that I paraphrased while reading, given in 1964, thirty-four years ago. That was a long time ago and we have all seen the chemical chaos that has happened and has now become a way of life. What shall we do about it?
We are asking all the young people to understand what is happening in the world around you. Just say, “No”. We are preparing a little CD to give away freely. This we will use as an introduction along with a series that I have recently given which you have heard, that are on our Cyberspace Ashram. I know that I am talking to people are out there in cyberspace, who are listening, have been listening, who are gaining knowledge. We have people tuning in from Italy, and India and many, many, many countries of the world, including Australia, Norway, Sweden, France and of course, United States. We don’t want ‘Chemical Chaos’ to continue. Let’s be cool about it. Let’s quiet it down. Each one of us, in our sphere of influence and you too, can put a stop to this by teaching the young people to say, “No”. Get to know the friends and the parents of your children and be sure they mix with good company. That is the responsibility of every parent.
transcription ends
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Innersearch 2002 in Hawaii!
Our next Innersearch Travel-Study program will be held right here on the island of Kauai in the summer of 2002. It’s the first such program on the Garden Island since 1974! From July 17 to July 22 we will enjoy daily classes with the swamis, join in the annual Guru Purnima festival, be inspired by local culture, explore the lush tropical island in exciting and non-touristy ways, and more. Be prepared for a wonderful spiritual experience in paradise with meditations, seminars and sacred ceremonies at the Siva temple of Kauai’s Hindu Monastery. Many have applied already, and there is a limit of 50 participants, so we recommend everyone apply as soon as possible. Interested? Please request an application from pilgrim@searchbeyond.com |
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From Our Gurus' Teachings
Archives are now available through 2001. Light colored days have no posts. 1998-2001 coming later.
